Chocolate-Orange Cupcakes

Some days are full of energy, just brimming with possibility and opportunities. Some days drag on, and you wonder what happened to all those plans you woke up with. The holidays are such a peculiar point in time, so full of freedom and something that you wanted so much during in exam period is suddenly here and you find that it is such a different way of living, not focusing on a goal or a destination or any deadlines (must finish these exams, must submit that essay and so on) but instead on the present week, the present day, this very moment.

Our experience of time is changing and I have read way too many reports and books and articles about "the compression of time and space" in our current lives due to technology, globalisation and other things I would rather not think of during holidays, but even with all these new innovations which warp time and space to our own benefit (or disadvantage) one thing remains the same. No matter how fast things speed up or how easily we are able to move from one destination to another, it is what we choose to do with the time we have that matters, and not our experience of time itself.

Sunrise

Sometimes the worst things are totally and completely unexpected, but sometimes the best things are as well. Like perfectly sunny days in the middle of a cold, wet winter. I go on my normal walk to work, basking in the sunshine and the warmth of the sun that has been missed so much, only to discover laughing and joking at work rather than the usual stressed out frowns that usually accompany the lunch time rush hour. The mood is light, friendly and relaxed, there will be no space for heavy criticism or frantic cries of "Where's my cheeseburger?!?!"

If only all days could be like this. But in the cold reality of winter there never seems to be a day completely free from the criticisms and disapproving frowns of difficult customers and respected tutors alike. Even though things may seem a bit of a struggle at the moment, like trying to peel the blanket tightly snuggled around me every morning, every cold morning is one morning closer to spring and that makes me happy.